髑髏

See also: 髑髅

Chinese

		skull	skull
trad. (髑髏)		髑	髏
simp. (髑髅)		髑	髅

Etymology

Cognate with 頭顱 (OC *doː b·raː) and 𩑒顱 (MC dak|traek|trhaek lu). The first syllable 髑 (OC *doːɡ) is a Sino-Tibetan item probably from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tuk ~ *twak (“head; skull; neck”), whence also 脰 (OC *doːs, “neck”). The second syllable, 髏 (OC *roː) is likely a reduplication syllable starting with *r/*l (Schuessler, 2007). Alternatively but less likely, the second syllable is related to 婁 (OC *ɡ·roː) with a hypothetical meaning of "empty" or "dried" (see 婁婁／娄娄 (“empty”)); compare Mizo lu ro (“skull”) (lit. "dried head"), with the second syllable ro meaning "dry".

Words that appear similar to 髑髏 (OC *doːɡ roː) include 顱 (MC lu, “skull”) and Khmer រលា (rɔliə, “forehead; cranium; skull”).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): dúlóu

  (Zhuyin): ㄉㄨˊ ㄌㄡˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): duk⁶ lau⁴
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): to̍k-lô͘

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: dúlóu
    • Zhuyin: ㄉㄨˊ ㄌㄡˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: dúlóu
    • Wade–Giles: tu²-lou²
    • Yale: dú-lóu
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: dwulou
    • Palladius: дулоу (dulou)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tu³⁵ loʊ̯³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: duk⁶ lau⁴
    • Yale: duhk làuh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: duk⁹ lau⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: dug⁶ leo⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tʊk̚² lɐu̯²¹/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: to̍k-lô͘
    • Tâi-lô: to̍k-lôo
    • Phofsit Daibuun: dogloo
    • IPA (Xiamen): /tɔk̚⁴⁻³² lɔ²⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /tɔk̚²⁴⁻² lɔ²⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /tɔk̚¹²¹⁻²¹ lɔ¹³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /tɔk̚⁴⁻³² lɔ²⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /tɔk̚⁴⁻³² lɔ²³/

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• Middle Chinese: duwk luw

Rime
Character	髑	髏
Reading #	1/1	1/1
Initial (聲)	定 (7)	來 (37)
Final (韻)	屋 (3)	侯 (137)
Tone (調)	Checked (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	I	I
Fanqie	徒谷切	落侯切
Baxter	duwk	luw
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/duk̚/	/ləu/
Pan Wuyun	/duk̚/	/ləu/
Shao Rongfen	/duk̚/	/ləu/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/dəwk̚/	/ləw/
Li Rong	/duk̚/	/lu/
Wang Li	/duk̚/	/ləu/
Bernard Karlgren	/dʱuk̚/	/lə̯u/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	dú	lóu
Expected Cantonese Reflex	duk6	lau4

• Old Chinese

  (Zhengzhang): /*doːɡ  roː/

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	髑	髏
Reading #	1/1	1/1
No.	11819	8459
Phonetic component	蜀	婁
Rime group	屋	侯
Rime subdivision	0	0
Corresponding MC rime	獨	樓
Old Chinese	/*doːɡ/	/*roː/

Noun

髑髏

1. skull of a corpse

   • 莊子之楚，見空髑髏。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     庄子之楚，见空髑髅。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Zhuangzi, circa 3^rd – 2^nd centuries BCE

     Zhuāngzǐ zhī Chǔ, jiàn kōng dúlóu. [Pinyin]

     When Zhuangzi went to Chu, he saw an empty skull.

2. head of a corpse

Japanese

Etymology 1

Kanji in this term
髑	髏
どく Hyōgai	ろ Hyōgai
goon	kan'yōon

From Middle Chinese 髑髏 (MC duwk luw, “skull”).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) どくろ [dóꜜkùrò] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [do̞kɯ̟ɾo̞]

Noun

髑(どく)髏(ろ) • (dokuro) 

1. a weathered clean skull
2. a death's head

Derived terms

• 髑(どく)髏(ろ)崇(すう)拝(はい) (dokuro sūhai): a skull cult
• 髑(どく)髏(ろ)杯(はい) (dokurohai): a goblet made from a skull

Etymology 2

Kanji in this term
髑	髏
されこうべ
Hyōgai	Hyōgai
jukujikun

/sarekaube/ → /sarekɔːbe/ → /sarekoːbe/

Compound of 曝れ (sare, “weathering”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 曝れる (sareru, “to weather, to degrade in color or form due to long exposure to wind, rain, and sun”)) +‎ 頭 (kōbe, “head”).

The kanji spelling is an example of jukujikun (熟字訓).

The fricative readings are less common, and derive as shifts from sarekōbe:

• /sarekoːbe/ → /ɕarekoːbe/
• /sarekoːbe/ → /ɕarekoːbe/ → /ɕarikoːbe/

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) されこーべ [sàrékóꜜòbè] (Nakadaka – [3])
• IPA^(key): [sa̠ɾe̞ko̞ːbe̞]

• (Tokyo) しゃれこーべ [shàrékóꜜòbè] (Nakadaka – [3])
• IPA^(key): [ɕa̠ɾe̞ko̞ːbe̞]

• (Tokyo) しゃりこーべ [shàríkóꜜòbè] (Nakadaka – [3])
• IPA^(key): [ɕa̠ɾʲiko̞ːbe̞]

Noun

髑髏(されこうべ) • (sarekōbe) ^{←されかうべ (sarekaube)?}
(alternative reading hiragana しゃれこうべ, rōmaji sharekōbe, historical hiragana しやれかうべ)
(alternative reading hiragana しゃりこうべ, rōmaji sharikōbe, historical hiragana しやりかうべ)

1. a weathered clean skull

Synonyms

Basic sense of skull:

• 頭(かしら)骨(ぼね) (kashirabone), 頭(とう)骨(こつ) (tōkotsu)
• 頭(ず)蓋(がい) (zugai), 頭(とう)蓋(がい) (tōgai)
• 頭(ず)蓋(がい)骨(こつ) (zugaikotsu), 頭(とう)蓋(がい)骨(こつ) (tōgaikotsu)